Tessera patents not infringed, ITC judge finds

SAN FRANCISCOAn Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued an initial determination against chip packaging technology licensor Tessera Technologies Inc. in its patent infringement action against several wireless semiconductor manufacturers, Tessera said Monday (Dec. 1).

The ALJ's initial determination upheld the validity of the Tessera patents but found that the respondents do not violate them, Tessera said. In May 2007, the ITC instituted an investigation into alleged infringement of Tessera's patents by Qualcomm Inc., Freescale Semiconductor, Motorola Inc., ATI Technologies (since purchased by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.), Spansion LLC and ST Microelectronics NV.
The initial determination is subject to review by the full ITC, Tessera said.

Henry Nothhaft, Tessera president and CEO, said through a statement that the company was pleased that the judge upheld the validity of the patents but "disappointed that we did not prevail at this juncture against these respondents regarding infringement, and we will review the initial determination in depth before determining our next steps."

"Qualcomm has maintained from the outset of the case that our chip packages do not infringe Tessera's patents and we are pleased that the ALJ has agreed with our position," said Alex Rogers, Qualcomm senior vice president and legal counsel, in a separate statement.

Nothhaft said the initial determination would not impact Tessera's financial results. The company raised its fourth quarter revenue guidance, saying it now expects revenue of $67 million to $69 million, up from its previous guidance of $60 million to $62 million. Tessera cited stronger-than-expected royalty revenue and an option fee for the revision.

In October Tessera (San Jose, Cali.f) announced that an arbitration panel ruled issued the company a confidential interim award stemming from a royalty dispute with Amkor Technologies Inc. Amkor said it believes that the final damage award would be well below the $85 to $115 million originally claimed by Tessera in its initial arbitration filing. Amkor later recorded a $49 million charge related to the panel's finding.